By Rusty,

Making time in your busy life to care for your High Springs, FL lawn can be something you would prefer not to handle but perhaps your experiences with professional lawn care have been less than satisfactory. You want a reliable, professional lawn team who shows up on time for full-service lawn care. It might be time to give professional lawn services another try with these benefits from a well-regarded landscape company.

 

Related: 4 Lawn Care Services to Consider This Year in the Silverleaf and World Golf Village, FL Areas

 

A Friendly Lawn Care Team

While a lawn care service should be efficient and precise, they should also be friendly. When your lawn team shows up for weekly lawn maintenance, they should greet you with a smile and hello, making you feel like a valued client. You should feel comfortable sharing concerns or asking questions that you know will get answers. Friendliness is a clear benefit and something you can expect from a reputable landscape company. 

 

Setting Your Lawn Apart from the Rest

A reputable lawn care company has the goal of setting your lawn apart from the rest. Close attention to detail and responsive service can be what makes your lawn a cut above. 

Mowing at various starting points can keep the lawn from developing low and high areas that can detract from the vibrant appearance. A lawn service should pay attention to where the mowing begins each week to ensure even growth. 

Trimming the edges of the landscape beds and along the walkways and driveway can leave clean edges that add symmetry and clarity to the landscape. 

 

Weeding and Trimming 

Horticultural training is given for a stellar lawn care team. As they care for the lawn, the team can assess the trees for good health and note any trimming that is required to ensure they continue to thrive. 

Weeding the landscape beds and attending to any weeds that find their way into the lawn is another essential. Early intervention can be the most effective way to prevent weeds from growing and overtaking healthy grass. Any weeds that find their way into the landscape beds can be hand-pulled. 

You can feel confident when the entire lawn care team is trained to know what to look for as they make their weekly visits. 

 

Sprinkler and Irrigation Oversight 

As part of the weekly service, you can have them oversee the sprinklers and other irrigation such as for planters to ensure they are delivering the right amount of water for the proper time. The best time to water the lawn and landscape beds can be in the early morning hours before the sun comes up.

This gives the plants and grass time to absorb the moisture before the sun burns off the excess. In such a warm climate, your irrigation system can be essential to ensuring the landscape is thriving. 

 

Drainage Solutions

During the weekly lawn maintenance visits while mowing, the lawn care team can catch any drainage issues that can cause a grass section to die. Drainage problems can also damage landscape plants and ruin your carefully curated landscape beds so it can give you peace of mind knowing they are assessing the drainage at each visit. 

Perhaps the main benefit of having a reliable lawn care service handle the lawn tasks each week can be the extra time you have in your day for more pleasurable activities. 

 

Related: When Might a Lawn Service Near Me Recommend an Irrigation System in the St. Augustine, FL Area

 

The Benefits of Professional Lawn Care Services for Retaining the Beauty of Your Landscape Design in High Springs, FL.jpg
By Rusty,

Most World Golf Village and St. Augustine, FL Areas lawns thrive with consistent care and attention. If you are ready for skilled lawn care and more free time for yourself, it might be time to consider handing the lawn tasks over to a professional service. They can ensure your grass care is on schedule and flourishing throughout the year. 

Related: 4 Lawn Care Services to Consider This Year in the Silverleaf and World Golf Village, FL Areas

Full-Service Lawn Care and Maintenance

From the growing season through the rest of the year, caring for a lawn is a job that doesn’t stop when the weather cools down. With the best professional products and reliable mowing crews, full-service lawn care can keep your grass in top shape. 

Weekly Mowing

Weekly mowing can be an essential service for many of the World Golf Village and St. Augustine, FL Areas months. You might be tempted to think that mowing means just cranking the machine and covering the entire lawn. 

However, the best-looking lawns are mowed with sharp mower blades that cut the grass instead of tearing it. Torn grass can offer a way for diseases and pests to infiltrate your lawn at weak points. This can lead to struggling or dead grass that mars the appearance of your landscape. Sharp mower blades cut the edges, leaving a clean end where insects, fungus, and other pests can’t find a home. 

Proper mowing also includes varying the starting points to keep the grass growing evenly throughout the lawn. These seemingly minor details can add up to a less-than-stellar appearance. 

Full-service lawn care means they pay attention to the small things that can add up to a pristine lawn. 

Weed Control 

Controlling weeds can be a full-time job since they can spread and overtake the healthy grass before you realize what is happening. Pre-emergent weed control should be applied in early spring to stop them from germinating while post-emergent weed control should be applied in fall to kill the weeds that were able to grow.

Along the way, a full-service lawn care crew can spot treat weeds as needed to ensure they can’t overtake the grass. 

Lawn Pest Control 

Lawn pest control is as important as weed control since pests can ruin your gorgeous lawn quickly. Grubs, mosquitoes, and other insects can make the landscape look unkempt as they chew away the leaves from the plants and shrubs and burrow beneath the soil to eat the roots of the grass. 

Ongoing pest control can prevent these problems so you don’t have to worry about your lawn looking anything less than amazing. 

Seasonal Irrigation Service  

While your automatic irrigation system should work on its own, it does need periodic inspection to ensure the zones are properly watered at the right amounts. Occasionally, a sprinkler head malfunctions and needs a replacement and a drip irrigation hose could spring a leak. 

As they arrive to mow your lawn, a lawn care crew can inspect the irrigation to maximize the watering efficiency and minimize waste. They can catch clogs before they cause problems so your lawn gets the water it needs at the right time of day. 

Shrub Pruning 

Regularly pruning the shrubs and plants in the landscape can give the landscape design the most pleasing appearance and the healthiest growth. 

Related: When Might a Lawn Service Near Me Recommend an Irrigation System in the St. Augustine, FL Area

The Importance of a Regular Lawn Care Routine in the World Golf Village and St. Augustine, FL Areas.jpeg
By Rusty,

Enjoying your Silverleaf and World Golf Village, FL areas landscape can be so much easier when you have skilled lawn care handling all the details. Reliable, professional service can take away the stress of worrying about its care while ensuring the lawn is healthy. These lawn care services can be exactly what you need for a thriving, envy-worthy grassy space and landscape. 

Full-Service Lawn Care

From weekly mowing in the growing season to biweekly service in the off-season, keeping the grass cut to the ideal height to protect the roots and encourage good health can take up a lot of time. A primary benefit of full-service lawn care can be the confidence that a trained crew will ensure your grass has all the attention for premium beauty. 

Each week when they arrive, as part of a weed control program, they could pull the weeds to keep them from overtaking the lawn. If you need more extensive weed prevention, they have professional herbicides to handle any weed infestation quickly so it doesn’t spread.  

Their crew will prune perennial plants and deadhead the flowers to encourage more growth. Their ongoing horticulture training is an asset you don’t want to miss. This is a benefit you can’t often find in lawn care services. 

Pest Prevention and Control

In our warm climate, it can be easy for pests to overtake the grass and destroy the lawn that makes you proud. Pest prevention and control can be the key to stopping any problems before they take hold. Grubs, chinch bugs, crickets, webworms, and other pests can ruin the lawn and landscape aesthetics before you know they are there. 

Pest prevention can be applied in early spring to stop bugs and other insects from finding a home in your lawn. They also have the products to control the pests that slip through so your lawn can continue to thrive and add that living beauty to your landscape. 

Mosquito control can be an essential addition to pest control and lawn services handle that, too. Keeping your lawn and landscape insect free can increase the pleasure of spending time outdoors. 

Organic-Based Fertilizer 

The peace you feel when you know your lawn has been fed with an organic-based fertilizer can be unmatched. Your children and pets are safe from hazardous products and your grass is verdant and lush. 

Fertilizer applications can be tailored to your grass type and soil so the most nutrients can feed the grass over time. 

Organic-based lawn treatments can give you pride in your lawn while also adding more curb appeal. When neighbors ask what you have been doing to have lush grass and healthy trees and shrubs, you know the secret that delivers stellar results.

A Lawn Satisfaction Guarantee

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain when lawn services come with a lawn satisfaction guarantee. A lawn care crew can make as many visits as necessary to ensure your grass services meet your expectations. 

Most of the time, extra visits are not needed since the team is trained in plant, grass, and tree health and part of their weekly job is to look for problems at each visit. Prevention can be the key that ensures your grass and landscape are gorgeous all year round. 

 

4 Lawn Care Services to Consider This Year in the Silverleaf and World Golf Village, FL Areas.jpeg
By Rusty,

If fertilizing requirements for your Nocatee and Ponte Vedra Beach, FL areas lawn seem confusing, you are not alone. The proper amounts of lawn fertilization and ratios can feel daunting but the good news is that you can enjoy a healthy, lush landscape with professional help. Explore the benefits of how a lawn care service can ensure your grass is healthy and will thrive. 

Benefits of Regular Lawn Fertilization 

The advantages of regular lawn fertilization can convince you that feeding the soil and roots can result in the grass of your dreams. First, imagine the pride you can feel when your lawn is the envy of the neighborhood. When your neighbors ask your secret, you can just say that you feed it well!

The second advantage is the increased visual appeal of your landscape. For people driving by, it is almost impossible not to notice a vibrant green lawn that has clean edges and no visible brown spots.

The third advantage can be the absence of weeds and pests that can deter your kids from wanting to play outside. You don’t have to worry that your dog might eat strange bugs because the thick grass discourages both weeds and pests from taking up residence. 

The last benefit can be that you will be unlikely to hear anything from the HOA other than praise for a luxurious lawn and impeccable landscape. 

A Professional Fertilization Schedule

The main purpose of fertilizer applications is to feed the roots of the grass. Three primary nutrients are essential for your grass plants to grow and stay healthy. 

Nitrogen is the nutrient that grass tends to use the most. It is essential for good plant health and protein formation. All cells are formed from protein, including plant cells. Nitrogen provides the nutrition for grass to grow by cell multiplication so without plenty of nitrogen, grass growth is stunted.

Phosphorus is a second nutrient grass plants need to thrive. This nutrient helps the plants resist disease and insects, and aids the plants in withstanding the cold of winter and the heat of summer. The third fertilizer nutrient is potassium which aids in making and storing energy through photosynthesis for plants. 

Early spring: The first fertilizer application acts as a jumpstart for the peak growing season.

Early summer: The early summer fertilizer is to help the grass maintain through the heat of summer. 

Early fall: An early fall fertilizer application can coincide with planting new grass to fill in bare spots and thicken the overall lawn. Along with oxygen, sunshine, and water, fertilizer is a big component of sewing new grass that needs food to germinate and grow before the winter weather arrives. 

Late fall and winter: Fertilization continues to be needed as growth is still occurring in our winter months.

Enjoy a Healthy, Lush Landscape with Professional Lawn Fertilization in the Nocatee and Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Areas.jpeg
By Rusty,

When your pride and joy is a thriving lawn and landscape in the St. Augustine, FL area, a working irrigation system is likely a necessity, not a luxury. Here are some of the compelling reasons a “lawn service near me” might recommend installing or upgrading an irrigation system. 

Irrigation for Dry Spells

Quick afternoon showers are not enough to keep lawns and landscaping well hydrated. This can be the primary reason a lawn service would recommend having an irrigation system installed or upgrading one that is not doing your lawn justice. 

Since irrigation can be automated, the ease you can feel by adjusting the watering from an app on your phone can allow you to customize the irrigation. Most irrigation systems have rain sensors that can detect a lack of rain (or too much rain), and will adjust automatically to the current weather. A primary benefit of enlisting a lawn service to handle the irrigation timing can give you peace of mind, no matter what the weather offers. 

Irrigation for Trees and Plants 

When a landscape service updates plantings that have been watered regularly at the plant nursery, irrigation becomes an essential resource to keep them thriving. Irrigation can be essential to protecting this landscaping investment as such features can draw the eyes of passersby and make them take a second look. 

A lawn service crew can monitor these plantings to ensure their continued growth. Initially, the new plants need extra water to establish strong roots. When the roots are growing and the plants are thriving, watering needs can be adjusted to a “normal” setting. 

Irrigation for a Busy Life

Many homeowners are busy with work, kids in school, and travel. The last thing you want to worry about is the amount of water your landscape needs, and this is a big reason why a lawn service may recommend adding or upgrading an irrigation system. 

Since irrigation usually occurs in the early morning hours, it is often finished by the time you rise and start your day. Not only can this relieve you of the responsibility of making sure the lawn and landscape have been watered, but professional irrigation helps you actually conserve water by ensuring it is only used when necessary.

No irrigation zone is running too long and sending water down the driveway to the storm drain. Each portion of your property gets the ideal water amount to boost the health and growth of the grass and plants.

Irrigation for Specific Landscape and Lawn Needs

Each part of the landscape doesn’t need the same irrigation type. While the lawn can require sprinkler heads that spray a long distance, the gorgeous potted ferns with drooping petunias on your patio may need drip irrigation. 

If you are a gardener who loves growing vegetables and herbs, this space can also benefit from soaker or drip irrigation.

When Might a Lawn Service Near Me Recommend an Irrigation System in the St. Augustine, FL Area.jpg
By Rusty,

While the weather in Alachua and Gainesville, FL, helps to keep landscaping looking green and healthy, some thought needs to be put into creating the type of ideal outdoor space for playing with the kids and hosting barbecue. The following lawn care essentials can keep your outdoor spaces pristine for all your plans this spring and summer. 

Landscape Design Upgrades

If your landscape has started to look ordinary and you think it needs an upgrade, you may want to consider adding new features—a speciality that some landscaping companies possess. The same company that takes care of your lawn can design and install custom features and landscape plans that highlight your home’s unique style and draw attention to the very best parts of the outdoor environment. 

From the front yard to the back, they have the ideas for upgrades that bring back your joy in your outdoor spaces. 

Weekly Lawn Service 

Entrusting your lawn to a professional service can ensure your landscape is stunning throughout the year. Because they pay special attention to the smallest lawn care details, you can be sure your property will stand out in the neighborhood. You might even have neighbors ask for your lawn care secrets!

Your lawn service can be tailored to your particular needs, including horticultural services to attend to the fine gardening shrubs and plants that distinguish your landscape. 

Sprinklers and Irrigation 

Proper irrigation can be crucial in the summer heat so you want a lawn care service that understands the demands your lawn and landscape have for watering. The ideal time for irrigation tends to be in the wee morning hours well before the sun rises. Since this may be when you are still sleeping, it can be difficult to know if the sprinkler system is working correctly. 

A lawn care service has the training to notice whether the grass and landscape beds are receiving the proper water amounts for them to thrive in the summer heat. The last thing you want to happen is for the plants and grass to suffer when you have so much invested in your custom landscape. 

Knowing they are always on the lookout for problems can give you tremendous peace of mind. 

Lawn Fertilization and Pest Control 

Being proactive with pest control can keep your grass and landscape plants from being consumed by insects but keeping up with the application schedule can be tough. When you hand off pest control and lawn fertilization to a reputable lawn service, they know what to apply at the ideal times to ensure your landscape remains healthy and vigorous. 

After a soil analysis to determine where it is deficient, they help clients love their lawns again with topdressing, targeted irrigation, and fertilizer that feeds their grass the nutrients it needs to remain in great health. 

Fertilizer is essential to feed the grass and plants well. Since the timing of the applications is critical to the most absorption during growth periods, their team can keep your lawn on schedule. The right ratio of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus can boost the grass into a lush, green carpet that complements the lovely appearance of your home.

Keep Your Landscape Fresh With These Lawn Care Essentials in the Alachua and Gainesville, FL Areas.jpg
By Rusty,
Uneven lawn

Areas of a lawn can become uneven over time, due to settling, drainage issues, and various natural and unnatural causes. If you’re wanting to level out these spots the first step will be finding the cause of the uneven spots.

Cause #1
The most common reason being trees were removed some time in the last  several years. As the tree stump and roots decompose, it creates a low spot where the mass of the tree's trunk was.
Solution #1
Apply about 2 inches of quality top soil in the low spot. Do not fully cover the grass, make sure the grass is visible, let it grow through the soil and keep adding this until it grows out.
What to Expect:
Unless the tree is done decomposing it will continue to decompose and cause a spot. Leveling this spot will be a continual process until it is done decomposing. Plan on repeating this process over time - 2 inches this season - then 2 next season over and over until the low spot is gone.

Cause #2
Another cause is a natural slope, the yard has never been graded, or a divot formed in the yard from when the house was built.
Solution #2
Assess how much grading needs to be done. Does your whole yard need to be regraded? Contact a Land Grading company to assist you with this. This process will require new sod.
What to Expect:
The proper way to re-grade starts with removing the topsoil from the problem area. Now adjust the subsoil by scraping away high areas and filling in low areas. Spread 2-inches of the reserved topsoil and till it into the first 2-inches of subsoil. This will help prevent drainage problems between the two layers of soil.

Cause #3
Vehicle or heavy equipment driving through the yard and creating ruts (generally for tree removal or landscaping enhancement service)
Solution #3
Topdressing with quality topsoil is your best solution for minor problems. Cut the lawn or affected area very short before topdressing. It’ll be easier to see the area and level the topsoil. Apply about 2 inches of quality top soil in the low spot. Do not fully cover the grass, let it grow through the soil and keep adding this until it grows out.
What to Expect:
After adding the topdressing, water the area to help settle it. If the area is still too low, let grass grow about 4 to 6 weeks, when another 2 inches of the soil can be added.

Cause #4
Although the least common for minor depressions in a lawn, sometimes the low spot is the worst case scenario - a sinkhole underground.
Solution #4
Contact a professional sinkhole remediation service. There are too many potential solutions based on size, scope, and proximity to buildings to give accurate advice on.

Bottom line, dumping a load of sand and shoveling it into holes isn’t the best practice. Be patient, even if it takes a couple of seasons to even out a really rough yard, fill in holes that used to be trees or other gaps in the ground.

If we can be of help with any of your landscaping project intall chores - please don't hesitate to reach out to us at (352) 378-LAWN or fill out our form at the top of the page!

By Rusty,

Now that we have made it most of the way through the dark days of winter and our plants are brown and damaged from cold snaps, it's time to plan your spring pruning for rejuvenating your landscape.

There are four major reasons for pruning a plant:
1. To improve flower or fruit production
2. To direct the growth and shape of the plant
3. To change the size of the plant
4. To promote plant health

With spring just around the corner, it's the pruning season for many Florida landscape plants. You can spring new life into a plant by letting it flush out from rejuvenation pruning.

But, what is rejuvenation pruning?
Rejuvenation pruning is the removal of old or overgrown limbs so that the plant can grow new, healthy branches in their place. Plants that require rejuvenation can be “hard pruned” or pruned gradually.

Why is rejuvenation pruning done?
This type of deep pruning is done to “rejuvenate” the health of shrubs. Without regular pruning, shrubs can get crowded, look messy, produce fewer flowers, and leave the plant looking really unhealthy.

When is rejuvenation pruning needed?
This radical form of pruning is used when shrubs are overgrown, leggy, dying in the interior and/or have slowed flowering. This typically happens to fast-growing, multi-stemmed shrubs if they haven’t been properly pruned for several years.

Rejuvenation pruning gives these shrubs a fresh start. After stems have been removed down to the ground, the shrub quickly begins to regrow. Flowering shrubs produce more blossoms in following years and shrubs with colorful stems, such as dogwoods, tend to grow back brighter and more colorful after rejuvenation pruning.

What time of year should rejuvenation pruning be done?
Rejuvenation or renewal pruning is usually done in early spring before new growth emerges. Pruning in this way during a later time of year can cause excessive stress to the plant.

Which Gainesville Landscape plants can benefit from rejuvenation pruning?
- Perennials
that grow very fast have flowers that get frozen back to sticks
(examples: Firespike, Lantana, Butterfly Bush, Milkweed, Plumbago…all of these need to be cut back every year to cut off the frost damaged to grow from base (Crape Myrtles as well)

- Spring blooming plants after they are finished flowering. Many Southern shade garden plants such as Azaleas and Camellia in the spring blooming category. You can prune spring bloomers any time after flowering, but before the Fourth of July as these plants begin to set next year’s blooms from mid-summer to fall. If you prune too late in the year, you will not experience blooms the following spring.These plants may look dead but they may very well have life in them. Never prune this set of plants until after they flower.

- Ornamental Grasses such as Flax, Muhly grass, and Pampas Grass will need rejuvenation pruning after hard frosts. This ensures the dead and frost-damaged leaves do not remain along with the new growth from spring, leaving the plant healthier and more appealing.

- Leggy looking plants such as Knockout and Drift Roses when they are overgrown and in need of rejuvenation pruning. If a plant gets too much growth on old wood-then sometimes old branches will start restricting the nutrients that go to those limbs and the rejuvenation pruning will allow more growth and fill back out without all those dead “leggy” limbs.

Pruning at the correct time of year can improve structure, control growth, and encourage beautiful blooms. If you are happy with the size, shape, and blooming of your plants, you have it easy. You may not even need to prune at all!

If you would like more information on pruning, check out a few of our Youtube videos on the topic:

What can be done with Muhly and Pampas Grasses to keep them appealing?
Spring Pruning for Golden Cassia Trees
Spring Pruning in your Gainesville Landscape
3 Tips for Pruning Crape Myrtles in Gainesville, Florida

If we can be of help with your spring rejuvenation pruning Gainesville landscape maintenance chores - or the surrounding areas of Alachua, Jonesville, and Newberry - please don't hesitate to reach out to us at (352) 378-LAWN or fill out our form at the top of the page!

By Rusty,

This article was written for our industry association, the National Association of Landscape Professionals

When you take on a new lawn care client, you may think you know what products should be applied based on what you’re seeing in the turf. However, there is a lot more going on than meets the eye and this is where the importance of soil tests come in.

“It’s like going to the doctor,” says Mike Hall, COO of Spectrum Analytic, Inc. based in Washington Court House, Ohio. “They’re going order a battery of tests if you’ve never been to that doctor before to find out what’s going on inside your body. A soil test does the same thing. It finds out what’s going on in the soil so you can amend it properly and not just guess.”

Hall guarantees that if you pulled a soil sample from each house in a cul-de-sac the results would be different for each lawn, so it’s important not to assume the soil is the same as the other properties you care for in the area.

Soil tests can tell you what is deficient and what may be in excess in a lawn.

“That’s an enormously important thing to know because we live in a world where all the inputs that people are using are becoming ever more expensive,” says Bob Mann, director of state and local government relations for NALP and agronomist. “So, if you’re using them improperly to excess or not enough or not charging what you should be charging that comes right off your bottom line. It’s good business sense to know exactly what you’re dealing with on a per lawn basis.” 

When it comes to conducting soil tests it’s critical you gather enough cores. You can’t just pull one sample from a corner of a yard and expect it to tell you anything. Also, be mindful of what you’re sending to the lab.

“You want to get rid of the verdure, the growing portion of what you pull up, get rid of the thatch layer, that intermingled layer of living and dead tissue, and then the first couple of three inches of soil put in the bag,” Mann says. “You want to be specific to where the roots are going to be growing to the exclusion of all that organic matter.”

Majority of the time the sample bag from the laboratory will indicate where to fill it so you know the amount of soil to provide. Hall says if you are planning to treat the front and backyard the same, pull 10 to 12 cores and mix the soil well so you can treat the property based on that one sample. However, if there is a problem area in a yard, it’s best to do a separate soil test for that spot so you can properly diagnose the issue.

“Your results are as only good as the person that takes that sample,” Hall says.

As for when you should conduct soil testing, Mann and Hall agree that after taking an initial soil test for a new client, they should be placed on a three-year rotation. Mann says the best time to conduct soil testing is in the spring before anything has been treated so the soil test does not reflect any recent applications.

When selecting who to send your soil tests off to, Hall advises looking for a soil lab that has quality control methods, competitive prices and agronomists on staff who will help you understand the results. Mann says whether you choose to work with a cooperative extension or a private company’s soil lab, you need to establish a relationship with them first before sending them hundreds of soil tests.

“You want to set up an account first off, so they know who you are,” Mann says. “You want to tell them ahead of time ‘Hey, I’ve got 1,000 customers, and I want to do 333 soil tests every year. Put everybody on a cycle, plus I budget 500 new sales a year.’”

Once you’ve established a relationship with the soil lab of your choice, then comes the matter of deciding what tier of testing you want to go with. Mann says this depends on how detailed you want to get and how much you want to pay.

The most basic level of soil testing looks at the soil pH, which affects how other elements are taken up by the grass. For those who are applying lime no matter what, they can be compounding the problem if the soil pH is already over 7.

“Grasses grow in a wide range of pHs but you want to be in that proper range so the other elements in the soil, the micros and macros, are taken up by the turf,” Hall says.

Another soil test level is looking at the nutrient levels in the soil – both the macro and the micronutrients. The third type of testing level looks at the physical aspect of the soil including the level of organic matter, the texture and the cation exchange capacity.

Mann says it’s important to work with a soil lab so you are not overwhelmed by the results. They are a resource for your company.

Both Mann and Hall advise not absorbing the cost of soil testing. Instead, communicate to the customer why soil testing matters, and provide them a PDF of the soil test results so you can back up why you advise making certain applications.

“I think it’s like anything else, I’ve never found a hospital where they did free blood testing,” Hall says.

Depending on what lab you’re using, you’ll get some basic recommendations back from them, but how you interpret those recommendations is what really matters. Dr. Frank Rossi from Cornell University says don’t let the data lead you astray.

“What he meant by that is don’t just look at the soil test numbers in a vacuum,” Mann says. “You have to be engaged in a constant effort to educate yourself as to what’s going on.”

While soil testing can ensure you have better success with your lawn care practices, it also helps with significant savings, so your company isn’t applying expensive products that are unnecessary for certain properties.

“We want you to be successful,” Mann says. “We want you to be professional. We want you to be a trusted resource when it comes to this and part of that is getting engaged with soil testing.”

The Master's Lawn Care conducts a soil test in partnership with UF-IFAS and their turfgrass department on Hull Road to ensure our programs for lawn health clients are tailored for each lawn's specific needs, related to soil, grass type, cultivar, amount of sun, and other property dynamics. 

By Rusty,

The ultimate goal of every homeowner who takes pride in their landscape is to have a thick, green, and lush lawn to enjoy. The easiest way to have that is to make sure it has the right amount of irrigation, a healthy dose of sunlight, and the proper lawn fertilization program. With those 3 things in-tact, your lawn will be the envy of the neighborhood.

Sunlight:
Too much shade is often the culprit for an unsightly dirt patch in a lawn.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone tell me they think all they need to do is install a pallet of sod and their lawn will be fine. What actually happens is the sod looks great for a few months, but over time begins to fade and, six months later, their unsightly dirt patch is back. They're treating the symptom of the problem (the dead sod) rather than the actual problem (the amount of shade on that area of the lawn).

The bottom line is that St. Augustine and Zoysia need about 4-6 hours of sunlight a day. 

Get more information here: 3 Basic Needs of a Healthy Gainesville Lawn: Sun
Watch Video Here: 3 Basic Needs of a Lawn - #1 is Sunlight

Water:
If your lawn developed brown spots last spring in the sunny areas, I’d venture to guess that your problem is water-related.  Most of the lawn issues we see in May and June are from the dry spells we experience. These brown spots during droughts are generally caused by one of two things if you have a Gainesville Irrigation system:  Improper irrigation coverage or incorrect watering times.

Three Quick Tips to Avoid Over or Under Watering Your Lawn:
1. Run your irrigation early in the morning. I set mine to start at 4AM.
2. Run your Rotor or Rotator Zones for about 45 minutes. Shrub/Ornamental zones can be set to 25 (deeper root systems).
3. Run your irrigation twice per week from March - November, per Alachua County Code.

Get more information here: 3 Basic Needs of a Healthy Gainesville Lawn: Water
Video Here: 3 Basic Needs of a Lawn - #2 is Water (Sprinklers, Irrigation, Drought stress)

Food:
Many homeowners in our area use the ‘feast or famine’ method fertilizing once or twice a year because of chain stores recommending the spring and fall lawn feedings. This is one of the many ways that turfgrass and the human body are very similar. This is not unlike eating one or two large meals a day and expecting a healthy physique – It just doesn’t work like that. In the same way that many nutritionists recommend 5-6 small meals a day because your body needs to be fed constantly, your lawn is at its best when it is given 5-6 doses of nutrients per year too.

Get more information here: 3 Basic Needs of a Healthy Gainesville Lawn: Fertilizer
Video Here: 3 Basic Needs of a Lawn - #3 is Food (Fertilizer)

It's a Brand New Year and a great time to set goals for your lawn. It all starts with a vision, and having a plan in place to focus on where you want to see improvements will help to make sure you hit your lawn goals for the year! Grass can survive with a minimum amount of care, but keep in mind, to  grow well, it will need supplemental watering and fertilizer when it starts to look stressed. That’s where we can help out!

Our lawn health programs are designed by a team that specializes in Gainesville turf grasses, with a focus on prevention of issues before they become issues. We use seasonally appropriate lawn foods to ensure your lawn is primed for success.

If we can be of help with any of your Gainesville landscape maintenance chores - or the surrounding areas of Alachua, Jonesville, and Newberry - please don't hesitate to reach out to us at (352) 378-LAWN or fill out our form at the top of the page!